In the U.S., reimbursements to funeral providers for arrangements can range from about $200 to as much as $2,500

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In the United States, the disposition of an unclaimed body depends on where it goes unclaimed.

Thirty-six states assign the responsibility to counties, townships or cities; some jurisdictions put money aside every year, but most don’t. Fourteen states, including Oregon, and the District of Columbia take on the task, covering costs with general revenue or Medicaid.

Oregon pays a funeral provider a maximum of $450 from the Indigent Burial Fund to dispose of an unclaimed body. Connecticut’s top reimbursement is $1,800. Illinois pays up to $1,655. West Virginia pays as much as $1,250 and requires burial in a cloth- or moleskin-covered casket.

Alaska pays $1,250 for basic services, more for extras such as opening a grave. The average cost in 2008 for an unclaimed person’s burial was $2,125, particularly lavish considering Alaska had about 50 unclaimed bodies a month. Oregon has about 20.

Massachusetts pays up to $1,100, and for that sum a funeral director must provide embalming, a “suitable burial garment,” a casket, a metal plate engraved with the deceased’s name, a hearse and a member of the clergy to officiate at burial. No other state has such an extensive list of requirements.

Elsewhere

States in which counties, townships or cities pay for disposition of the unclaimed dead: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana (township), Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana (parish), Maine (city), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Nebraska, New Hampshire (city), New Jersey, New Mexico, New York (New York City has its own fund), North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

States in which disposition is a state responsibility: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia. Also, the District of Columbia.

In states in which counties are responsible for burying or cremating the unclaimed dead, the methods vary. In some Florida counties, funeral homes are on a rotation, and in others, they bid for a contract.

Georgia’s counties set aside $200 to $500. Some Montana counties pay $1,500, but most do not have the money. Last August, Park County, Wyo., raised its maximum reimbursement from $1,500 to $2,500.

Every state requires that unclaimed bodies first be offered to the largest medical school or a special office that distributes the bodies to schools of medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, mortuary science or others that use cadavers.

In Oregon, unclaimed bodies must first be offered to Oregon Health & Science University. But in September, the school decided to stop taking the unclaimed dead, despite the chronic need for cadavers.

William Cameron, OHSU’s demonstrator of anatomy, said the school wants to avoid another mix-up like the January 2007 case of Robert “R.J.” Anheier, whose body was accepted at OHSU as unclaimed until his friends and a sister came looking for him.

In addition, Cameron said, the law requires a 10-day wait after death so that authorities can search for next of kin. Even a refrigerated body can degrade quickly in that time, he said, “and we were looking to be able to provide cadavers that would be in the best possible condition.”

The federal government has only one role in the disposition of the unclaimed dead: The Department of Veterans Affairs will arrange burial in a military cemetery such as Willamette National.